Jamaican marumba - is the marumba a Jamaican marimbula?

[Zeno]

and the next pages, which has the illustration of the "marimbula de guiro":

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... bula_2.jpg

[Zeno]

I do see the "edit post" function, but it does not allow the altering of already posted images. So, in case you are trying to read the text, I have flipped it for you:

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... bula_3.jpg

[davidpenalosa]

Hey Zeno,
Thanks so much for posting those scans of marimbulas from the Ortiz books. The marimbula de guiro and the one on pg. 94 really look similar to the Shona-style mbiras I've seen. Very cool. I can't read teh text. Does it say what the dimentions are?
-David

[pcastag]

I actually have one from Jamaica, the guy I got it from called it a rumba box, they use it in their folk music called mento.
PC

[davidpenalosa]

PC,
Have you read the first posts of this thread? ???
-David

[Zeno]

Hi David,

If there are dimensions in Ortiz they are buried in the text and I am still looking to hook up with a convenient translator.

It would be cool if someone could actually find a way to read the text from the posted photos of the pages. It is almost clear enough. Is there a way someone could take the posted page and enlarge it. Also, I could try to post it larger from the start. That is if someone is facile with reading it in that academic Spanish.

btw, where is everyone? Is this great forum format really being used to its fullest? So cool to be able to edit, post photos, etc. Seems like this IS the place.....

Zeno

[Berimbau]

Hola,
Glad to see that David's post has taken on a life all it's own and that Zeno, a VERY knowledgable cat, has joined us here. The gourd resonated model depicted in Ortiz's book hails originally from Central Africa and was VERY popular in 19th century Brasil. Due to Katrima contretempts, I lost 35 years of research on lamellaphones and am at present unable to remember the exact region in Central Africa where they still make these same instruments. The Kongo/Angolan region is where the majority of New World lamellaphones came from. If you do comparative work between 19th century depictions and descriptions of these instruments on BOTH sides of the Atlantic, tally them with importing trends in the slave trade, and a clear picture will emerge. New musical/organological/kinaesthetic trends in various African regions reappeared with staggering frequency in Cuba and Brasil. Remember, the slave traders MAINLY targeted the young as they were the most valuable on the sordid market in human flesh. Although their are certainly some strong musical influences stemming from the Zimbezi Valleys in the United States (see my 1994 book chapter on mouth bows in Kubik's Festschrift), Cuba, and Brasil, I have found NO evidence that the Shona Mbira was a model for anything more than the projection of it's name to describe lamellaphones historically unrelated to them!
Yes there are now a number of larger lamellaphones present since the late 19th century along the Gold Coast. All of these were influenced by the Cuban innovations. Gerhard Kubik has published a book in German detailing how these instruments got there (maritme traders, the Agudo in Nigeria, etc.), but I don't think it is available anymore. Laurenty published a nice study of the Kongo variants, and Redinha on Angolan models, but alas, those category four hurricanes!! At least they must be quite literate by now!
David, there is a poor quality video (but interesting history) of Jamaica's premier Mento band, the Jolly Boys somewhere on the net. I'll try and find it again but being younger and faster, you will doubtless have it googled before I get it. There is some Marimbula in it. Now I haven't encountered the term you are using, Marumba, in my fieldwork. I could e-mail Ken Bilby, and ask him, he is a world class scholar and knows EVERYTHING about Jamaican music.
Zeno, the Cuban and U.S. use of clay jugs as bass voice amplifiers goes back to Kongo where gourds or earthenware vessels called Mbunga are similarly employed. The Italian friar Cavazzi left us a 16th century depiction of an Angolan musician playing Mbunga along with a rail-style xylophone. Accounts and depictions of African-American youths blowing jugs go back into the 19th century, well before the birth of the Memphis Jug Band, Gus Cannon, or Hammie Nixon. Older Cuban sources also clearly identify this trans-Atlantic musical trend. I don't think that there are too many jug players in Cuba, and right now I'm the only active performer in Memphis. We sure could use some more jugists in this Bush-plagued era!!!


Saludos,



Berimbau

[pcastag]

PC,
Have you read the first posts of this thread? ???
-David

I did read the first one about the jamaican marimbula and a different name that it was called, but I fast forwarded through the lengthy description that was cut and pasted. Sorry!

[Zeno]

A quick google reveals that Bart is keeping the back issues alive and that Richard was our man on this subject more than a decade ago! Thanks for the great information, then and now.

I saw and jammed with Bart at Darrell De Vore's 'wake' a few months ago. Funny thing I still have not officially met Bart but I know he is a soulful and nice man from my dealings with him when I published my little article in a later issue of EMI, but only corresponded with him through phone and mail. After that jam at the service when most had left, I asked Darrell's son "was Bart Hopkin here", and the reply was "you were just jamming with him all evening, he was the guy sitting next to you". So I guess I have met Bart musically. Have you contacted him about your need for a copy of your work? If I can be of assistance, let me know.

We will all miss Darrell who invented several wonderful instruments and made otherworldly music.

Zeno

http://www.windworld.com/back_issues/bi9-10.htm
VOLUME 9 # 1 SEPTEMBER 1993

Letters and Notes: 6 pages; 5 drawings and 2 photos.
Hugh Davies: Theremin. Warren Burt: Theremin. Blake Mitchell: Bass Tubulon. Baschet's Flutter Moths. Circus World Museum in Wisconsin. Darrell De Vore's comments on kid's toy, 'groan tubes,' Jew's Harps

"Tumbas, Rumba Boxes, and Bamboo Flutes: Caribbean Instruments by Rupert Lewis": Bart Hopkin. 3 pages; 5 photos.
The first in the series of articles focusing on Jamaican instruments. This article describes the instrument maker, Rupert Lewis and his instruments, which consist of tumbas, a drum similar to the conga, rumba boxes, a large lamellaphone related to the African mbira and sideblown diatonic flutes. [Additional keywords: congas, lamellaphones, thumb pianos, marimbulas]

"The Giant Lamellaphones: A Global Perspective": Richard Graham. 3 pages; 1 photos and 1drawing.
This article traces the history and origins of giant lamellaphones -- bass kalimbas also known as rumba boxes or marimbulas -- focusing on the development of the instruments in African and the African diaspora. [Additional keywords: mbiras, thumb pianos, rumba boxes, marimbulas]

[davidpenalosa]

Hi everyone,
Berimbau, nearly every time I read one of your posts, the depth of your Katrina loss becomes ever more apparent. This is definitely a topic with which you are very knowledgeable. Thanks for your input.

I misspoke when I said that the "marimbula de guira" on page 99 looks similar to the Shona-style mbiras I've seen. The mbiras I’ve seen have two rows of keys and are not built into the gourd like the one on pg.99, but rather lay inside of it. I know this is not news to you. I’m just saying it to clear up my own misstatement. I take your point that there is -

"NO evidence that the Shona Mbira was a model for anything more than the projection of it's name to describe lamellaphones historically unrelated to them!"

It would best not to call the marimbula a "giant mbira" as I have sometimes done. The illustration on page 99 does resemble some African kalimbas I have seen, but I don’t know their exact origin.

I find it fascinating that you’ve located the region in Central Africa where they still make the style of lamellaphones ("marimbula") seen on page 99. Have you seen any of these Cuban versions? I’m still wondering if Ortiz is not actually showing some African lamellaphones in his book? The one on pg.99 has 12 keys instead of the more typical 5. 12 keys seem like a lot of keys for a bass instrument. Also, if I understand you correctly, you say that large lamellaphones came to Africa in the 19th century from Cuba or Cuban influence via the slave trade:

"Yes there are now a number of larger lamellaphones present since the late 19th century along the Gold Coast. All of these were influenced by the Cuban innovations."

I noticed that you didn’t site the existence of large lamellaphones from the Kongo/Angolan region.

In the Boogalu DVD "Tremendo Vacilon" there’s footage of a changui group playing at the Casa de Trova in Santiago using both a marimbula and clay jug player. So, you have at least one colleague out there.

Thanks for doing the Google search Zeno. I’m going to try and obtain Berimbau’s article on giant lamellaphones.

-David



Edited By davidpenalosa on 1138514056

[Berimbau]

Dear David & Zeno,
I would love to hear from Bart, but can you contact him, Zeno? He now has a new unlisted number (too many people bothering him for old articles?) and I have lost his e-mail address along with so much else.............. Now I had a staggeringly HUGE library stemming from both my original research on four continents, 20 years of Rutgers/ Princeton interlibrary loans, and many kind contributions from the previous generation of scholars who shared their original unpublished ms, photos, and field notes, but who are no longer with us. Now where exactly does one find a good KiKongo dictionary and grammar these days? You just learn to let go of these things or it will drive you crazy! I do count my blessings! My brother-in-law is working on my house in Waveland, and he recently found 40 of my cds WAY out in the woods. I was bemoaning my lost Kituxi disc (he is an Angolan hungu player - a precusor to the Brasilian berimbau de barriga) on some defunct Luanda hotel label, and now it is back in my cd player! Miracles abound in Mississippi, as I'm certain any good Baptist preacher would tell you.
Fortunately, my memory is still somewhat intact. Now David their are actually two seperate lamellaphones which share organological traits with the "Marimbula de guira" depicted in Ortiz. One comes from Western Nigeria (uba aka) and the other (forgotten name?) from the Zaire/Angolan border lands. However, the uba aka has a split keyboard UNLIKE Ortiz's example. Now how I wish I had a picture of the Central African instrument to post for you!
As far as I know there are NO examples of giant lamellaphones from Central Africa, perhaps this is because the region didn't seem to have hosted the large amount of African RETURNEES that are found in West African countries. Since the advent of the slave trade and subsequent European colonialism, African musical instruments have at times migrated LONG distances from their original homes. Some case actually pre-date this, and remain for the time, anomolous, such as the log xylophones Kubik recorded in West Africa and East Africa.
Now despite Tracey's old African Music Journal article "A case for the name Mbira," and my own attempts to employ it, followed closely by a sharp blow to my head from Dr. Kubik, please use the neutral term lamellaphone. Mbira is one of hundreds of SPECIFIC terms for these instruments that localize it temporally, geographically, and organologically. Chisanji, karimba, adidigbo, likimbe, etc. It would be tantamount to calling every lute an "Oud," which millions of guitarists, and some oudists, would surely object to. Confusing too. How many of us congueros get called tom-tom beaters, bongo players (not that there's anything wrong with that), etc.
Well I'm heartened that there are still some jug players in Cuba. I think that Pops Davis and Hammie Nixon were the last of a long line of African-American players here in the South, and the Kweskin Jug Band's master player Fritz Richmond also passed this past year. As they say when a griot passes, a library is burning down.




Saludos,



Berimbau

[Zeno]

Berimbau, I will try to contact Bart and tell him of your situation.

I am submitting a larger version of page 99, so you all can check out the bit of text which suggests its connection to Efik people. If this helps I can scan the continuation on page 100:

Zeno

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... _Guira.jpg

[Zeno]

continuing to page 100....
between us here we should be able to translate the gist of this, right?

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... ge_100.jpg

[Bataboom]

I have one of these pictured above its called a KALIMBA
thumb piano made with a coconut shell and a little
hardware on top.

[Berimbau]

Dear Zeno,
Thanks for the scan but I do have the Ortiz volume again but in the 96 reprint edition, so my pagination is quite different. The Efik model is the Nigerian one I reffered to in my earlier post, but usually it has a split keyboard manual and "teclas" or lamella that are either hewn from raffia, bamboo, or metal. The single manual depicted in Ortiz represents a very different musical orientation, as does the lack of the characteristic Efik dual openings in the top of the soundboard. These openings serve as a finger hold to secure the instrument during play. The absence of these two organological traits makes me suspect that another African instrument may have served as a model, one closer in conception to certain Angolan lamellaphones.
It IS possible that this Cuban lamellaphone represents a fusion of West and Central African technologies, a situation well known in Afro-Brasilian organology. In Brasil the quijengo goblet drum used in the congada of Sao Paulo has a dual Angolan/Mozambiquen heritage. I discussed the importance of such inter-ethnic technology sharing in Brasilian slave society in my 1991 article on the development of the berimbau in colonial Brasil. I would postulate that the same social forces were also in play in Cuba, resulting in some examples of Afro-Cuban material culture. Certainly the conga drums or tumbadoras is a prime example of that kind of fusion. Now what does Olavo Rodriguez have to say? I must be the only one around here who hasn't read his book. Everyone says it is just great, but my money is in short supply since my recent bath.


Saludos,



Berimbau